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tresw

New pool underway (with pics)!!

tresw
16 years ago

Hey everyone, I've been hanging out here for a while and FINALLY I have some pics of my own to post :-) Excavation was yesterday and rebar was installed today. The ground is really soft due to recent rains and the dump trucks rutted out our yard out quite badly, but they're supposed to smooth it out later. That's been the only issue so far. The pool will have a grotto, 11' long rock waterfall, tanning shelf with a tile shark on it with a bubbler coming out of his mouth, and a Turbo Twister slide. We figured this would be a good time of year to build because we're in no hurry for it to be finished since we can't used it for a few months anyway. Also the PB is slow this time of year, so they aren't spread thin as can happen in the middle of the summer.

Plumbing is supposed to go in tomorrow and gunite by the end of the week. Should be done in 6 weeks barring weather delays, which frankly are quite likely this time of year.

Comments (150)

  • tropicalparadise08
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    tresw - I found out why the PB hasn't mentioned anything to us about brushing the plaster, they handle that for the first 2 weeks. Tomorrow is plaster day. I'll believe it when I see it! I'm sure it will be a little bit before the water is warm enough to swim but it was 87 Sat.

  • wodka
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    tresw, what a beautiful pool and backyard - the last shot you took looks like a postcard! It's all so pretty and looks like a lot of fun is in store for you and your family.

  • jillyjax
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    TRESW -
    I really like your water line tile. I'm planning my 1970 pool refurbishment and I think that tile is a fresh twist on a classic look. Do you mind sharing where you sourced the tile? Thanks - jillyjack

  • tresw
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Jmas, thanks!!

    Tropical, wow they're actually sending someone out there twice a day to brush!? That's great service! I sure would have liked that as there were quite a few 30's temps in the mornings during my brushing phase, that was no fun at all!! I saw in your other post that you're filling now, awesome!

    Wodka, thanks so much! I'm anxious for it to all be done now, I wish the landscaping was in already :-) It'll help tie everything together.

    Jillyjack, the PB provided the tile, but I know where they got it from. It's from Noble Tile, same as the mosaics. I attached a link below. If you click on "enter our online 2007 tile catalog" (yes, it appears they're a bit slow updating their web site!), then click on "Waterline Tiles", you'll see it midway down the page (Coral Reef Series). Ours is the blue/ creme, but it comes in other colors as well. I don't think they have online ordering, but I'm sure you can call them and order.

    ---------------

    I don't have much progress to report, we did order a holly tree to help screen the slide from the street and also a couple of Crape Myrtles to flank the gazebo. They're also supposed to dispose of the pear tree that was dug up during excavation (it's been laying off to the side ever since and is starting to annoy me!) We're held up on fence installation and sprinkler repairs until the PB can finish doing the final fill and grading, and now that will be delayed because of the deluge we're getting right now. Once all that is done we can get a little more serious about the landscaping!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Noble Tile

  • jdechris
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Love the pictures & your pool is beautiful.
    Is it rude to ask your approximate cost for this project? Sorry if you already posted and I missed it

  • tresw
    Original Author
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Jdechris, thank you! The pool contract was for 35k, that didn't include the slide (but did include the stub-up and valve). I think I mentioned somewhere above that the grotto was 2900 and the waterfall was around 2300, so those two items weighed heavily on the cost.

    ----------------

    We had 3" of rain yesterday, so there won't be anything happening with the yard fill, landscaping , etc. for at least a week. Part of the joys of a winter project I guess!

  • jillyjax
    16 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the shopping info. I saw that tile on Noble's website earlier this week, but passed by it. Seeing it in a longer repeat makes all the difference in the world.

    You have a great set up.

    Take care -

  • tropicalparadise08
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The pool is finally finished! Now on to the landscaping. We have some ideas of what we want but I'd love to hear what y'all would do.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tropical Paradise

  • tropicalparadise08
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sorry for the post here - Operator Error!!!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No problem Jillyjack! Quite right about the repeating pattern. Something else to consider is the tile looks a lot different once the pool has water in it as you only see the top half of the tile.

    Tropical, your pool looks great! I just posted some comments on your other thread about the landscaping.

    We just got back from vacation and thankfully the pool didn't turn a wierd color while we were gone :-) The new TF100 test kit arrived and I tried it out yesterday. Everything is well within normal tolerances. We'll keep running it on the chlorinator until the CYA starts creeping up, then we'll probably switch to the BBB method.

    I am getting VERY annoyed about the PB not getting their butts out to finish the yard repairs. I had to mow yesterday for the first time this year and the damage makes mowing extremely difficult. Plus I can't do the sprinkler repairs and fence until the repairs are done.

  • tropicalparadise08
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I completely understand how you feel. The PB got people out to clean up the mess in the yard but we still have a huge pile of sand & big clumps of dirt everywhere. We don't have the mowing problem you have because ALL of our grass in the backyard is dead due to the pool construction. We will lay sod after we landscape.

  • cword
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Gorgeous pool! My kids would have loved it when they were younger. The slide and grotto, wow! You should be able to make up at least $5000.00 of the cost by skipping Disneyworld this year. LOL. My kids are older now and more into the diving part of swimming, but would still enjoy hanging out in that grotto I think (even the slide come to think of it!) Do you mind tell me what kind of coping you used? Is that what you call Cataliver coping? Again, good job on the pool. It will be worth every penny, even the upgrades you will not regret. What lucky kids! Have a great summer.

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Tropical, sorry to hear you're sharing my backyard woes! They're supposed to be fixing ours today, I'm at work so I won't know until I head home. Fingers are crossed!

    Cword, thank you for the kind comments! It's funny that you mentioned Disneyworld as we've been talking about doing that, but it's definitely OFF for this year due to a hurtin' budget, LOL! The coping is precast concrete, this PB calls the color "adobe". I like the color a lot more when it's wet, it looks richer. I'm going to coat it when it gets a little warmer so that it retains that wet look. I wanted flagstone (same price) but my wife took the kids to a friends' pool with flagstone coping several times and she said it rubbed their hands raw (from holding onto and moving along the sides of the pool).

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well the PB did their "final grading" yesterday (2nd time they've been out for this). I told them that I want someone to come out and look at it and try and convince me that it's done! I spent an hour picking rocks, tree root pieces, chunks of concrete and pieces of PVC pipe out of the "fill" material (looks like someone else's garbage to me). The grading is far too rough to mow over, it'll tear my lawn tractor up. I'm resigned to completing this myself. I'll probably have to get 3 yards of sandy loam and spend a weekend on it.

    Trees are not in yet either, should have been done by now. Sprinkler repair is scheduled for next week, fence the week after. Then we'll concentrate on landscaping. Hopefully we'll have some pretty pictures to post after that :-)

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    After some discussion with Hobert, they've agreed to come out and do some more work on the yard. They were supposed to come spread some sand Saturday. A dump truck showed up, but the super discovered they brought more clay instead of sand, so he sent them somewhere else. They're supposed to try again in the next couple of days. Hopefully it'll get done soon so we can get on with the sprinkler repairs and fence.

    I've been meaning to post a pic of this, I love it! Hey, if you've got to have a pool cleaner, why not make it interesting? :-) This is the Pentair Legend Platinum with the optional Hummer body. It even has headlight and taillight lenses! It looks too cool roving around the pool.

    I've also been meaning to post better pics of these mosaics on the bench:

    The water was 68 today and the kids couldn't stand it any longer, they had to go for a swim! I was content to stick my feet into the water on the baja shelf! This first shot is actually an action shot, it looks like she's standing in the water but she's really coming off the slide.

    Hamming it up in the grotto:

    My older daughter went for a spin in the "air chair" hanging in the gazebo. It's quickly becoming my favorite hangout spot! It's a great place to read. The crape myrtles flanking the gazebo are the first bit of poolside landscaping, there will be much more to follow although it will probably take a few months to get it all sorted. I haven't buried that pesky phone line yet, have to wait until the sprinkler guy finishes his work. The grass is just starting to emerge from dormancy here... drat, I wasn't missing the mowing!!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    PB finally got the yard all filled in and smoothed out, the pool project is now officially complete! Hobert did a great job, we're very satisfied with the end results. I definitely would recommend them without hesitation.

    Water got up to a toasty (HA!) 70 degrees yesterday and I went for a swim with Logan. It was cold, but I love the pool! Can't wait to enjoy it in warmer weather! Poor Logan, his teeth were chattering the whole time :-)

  • trhought
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    tresw - Congratulations on your first swim! From the looks of the pictures, the whole gang is enjoying the new outdoor attractions!

    70 degrees is a little cool but when the temp hits around 78 and higher, the experience will be even better. Poor Logan....sounds like my Matthew....always the first one to leave the pool due to chills, but also the first one to want to go back in.

    Glad to hear all worked out with the final grade. It took us a long time also to get the PB dirt crew back out after the build. It's probably not a big deal to them, but to us homeowners who want to complete the rest of the poolscape, it becomes a sore that gets opened every day because of delays on other landscape progress. We had the same feelings after the dirt work was complete....the PB upheld their commitment and did a good job with the grade.

    Congrats!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey Tim, 70 is definitely brisk! I've been in twice and don't mind it to the waist, but it hurts when I get in any deeper than that! Matthew definitely sounds like Logan, when he gets out and warms up he wants right back in again!

    ==========

    The fence is done and looks quite good. It's a combination of board-on-board and ornamental metal. I'll post pics this weekend. We've been hammered with more rain recently, but it looks good for the weekend. Now the projects are shifting from "others" to "us", haha! First up is to put some pavers down inside the fenced pen so I can get the go-cart and kids' ride-on toys off the covered patio area. Then I'm going to do some work on the patio cover and add some decorative details to it to spruce it up. And of course the landscaping awaits. It's going to be a busy spring!

  • trhought
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Tres - Yeah, I know the feeling in cold water. Waist deep is OK, but beyond waist deep is agonizing. It's better to just jump in!

    We went swimming yesterdary for the first time this year! The water hit a brisk 70 degrees finally. We have a bit more shade so it takes a little longer to heat the pool water. The kids stayed in for over two hours and kept jumping in the hot tub to warm up in between.

    Keep the pics coming....I'm still in the finish up mode myself....6 months after the PB finished the pool with a final grade. Oh well, at least we can enjoy the pool ambience in the backyard now. I keep reminding my wife that Rome was not built in a day and you can't rush perfection.....at least not without paying a lot of money!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've been thinking about how nice it would be to have a hot tub for those 70 degree swims!! We may add one after we can slog our way through all the other backyard improvement projects.

    Speaking of which... here's a pic that shows part of the new fencing. The cedar will get stained in about a month after it's had some time to dry out. The cedar fencing encloses a yard area that will be our pool and gardening stuff storage.

    Here is part of last weekend's work, the start of what will be an ongoing landscaping project. The red grasses will grow to about 30", so that's why we left room around them. The smaller border grasses are near their mature size.

    We also are working on a steel edged gravel & paver path to and around the equipment pad. I was completely gassed by last night and couldn't get it done though.

  • lancer1991
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Looks good.

    I'm curious about the drain you have in your planter, where does it run to? Not sure if I'll need to do something similar and would be good to know.

  • busyredhed
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What a beautiful pool. Our just got finished and we did the same thing with the depth. Our is 3.5, 5 , 4. The kids have much more fun that way.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Our Pool Pics

  • busyredhed
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    How did you post your pics? I haven't been able to figure it out.

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Lancer. The planter drains were installed by the PB and are plumbed into PVC drain lines that run under the decking to the "downhill" side of the pool. They terminate in pop-ups that are flush with the lawn. When the pipe starts filling with water the pop-ups open and allow the water to spill out onto the lawn.

    Busyredhead, thanks! Your pool is beautiful, I was just looking at it in your "footprints" thread. I was expecting some kind of fuzzy shape of a foot, it's surprising to see the actual shoe tread. Wild! To post pictures you have to use "HTML" codes. I can't type the exact HTML code here because the server will think I'm trying to post an image and therefore won't show the text, but I'll try to describe it as best I can. You need a left arrow bracket "". In between those brackets you'll place the following text string:

    img src="InsertPictureLinkHere"

    It needs to look just like the above with the arrow brackets on left and right. No extra spaces or anything. The quote marks need to be there as well. Replace InsertPictureLinkHere with your picture link. An example from your picture album would be this:

    http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/2407276391_9974923b2d.jpg?v=0

    That whole string of text needs to be inserted in place of InsertPictureLinkHere. So the text would read like this:

    img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/2407276391_9974923b2d.jpg?v=0";

    Place the brackets around the above and it will display as a picture in your thread. Hopefully that makes sense!

  • busyredhed
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you tresw. I appreciate the help and feedback. that shoe tread is all over my pool. About 15 of them. The builder is going to drain my pool once the pebblefina cures and then re-acid wash it. They were pretty flabbergasted too when they came out today to see it. LOL

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No problem! If they can't get rid of them maybe you could start a new design trend, tell everyone you had the footprints placed in there on purpose :-) When we were selecting tile mosaics there was one in the catalog that was of flip-flops. We saw no need for that as we have 3 kids and they leave "real" shoes and flip-flops around the pool all the time, haha!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Work continues although there's not anything "picture-worthy" since the last batch. I finally buried the phone and TV cables. I placed 160 lineal feet of metal landscape edging last weekend and have also transplanted a few plants from the crowded front yard planters to the back. 4 yards of topsoil is due on Friday which we'll spread this weekend, then we'll be putting in the majority of the landscaping and finally the mulch (will probably take 2 or 3 weekends to get it all done). I've got to get pricing on the koi pond to see if we can swing that now, but probably it'll have to wait a while.

    The water has been ranging between 70 and 76, my older daughter and wife have yet to brave it but the other 2 kids have been swimming a lot. I've been in a few times myself, it's hard to get in but once in there it doesn't seem that cold. I tried out the slide last weekend and it is awesome!! It feels like you're really moving when you come off the bottom of it.

    More pics to follow when we get the landscaping in :-)

  • syntagma
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am dying over your pool! It's so fantastic and FUN! I adore the shark! I would have had to get that too if we had gone with plaster! He's awesome! Your grotto is fantastic. THe koi are so great in there. I wish we had thought to do our bench like that!! Your lot is so huge and I adore your gazebo! CONGRATS!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you!! I appreciate it! I think we have similar taste in pools based on the pics you posted of yours :-) I like your beach entry, we were thinking about doing that as well, but we live out in the country and found out that critters love a beach entry too as it's easy access for them. My wife wasn't too crazy about the idea of sharing the pool with the local wildlife, LOL! I don't see as many animals around as when we moved in, but we still see rabbits, field mice and -ahem- skunks around.

  • whatareuthinking
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No, I posted in the correct post.

    I draw your attention to the hole in the backyard with steel in it.

    The steel is held off of the earth in a FEW places with CLAY BRICKS! SEE....???!!!

    The pipes that pass under the steel, are lying directly ON THE EARTH. Because they are NOT in a trench in the earth, the pipe is actually IN the backside of your cement structure. This creates a weak point across the underside of the shell.

    There is not the required 3" of concrete (gunite, shotcrete, etc. American Concrete Institute considers it all the same) between the steel & the earth. That's because the 2" PIPE
    is creating a VOID.

    It's because the guys you hired were LAZY, and didn't want to dig a 2" deep trench to lay the pipe in.

    I also bet that when they finished with the concrete placement, there was less than 1 yard of waste lying around!

    That's because they dumped all of those trimmings into the floor, bench & stairs! A pool this size should have had 4-6 yards of rebound & trimmings.

    Trying to save yourself a few bucks by doing it yourself, opens you to all of the "shortcuts & fraudulent practices" these tradespeople perform on a daily basis.

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Whatareyouthinking, looking through your post history and seeing the way you phrase everything it appears your intent is to anger people, but I'll treat the comments as serious input and respond to them:

    The steel was held off the subgrade with bricks, that is correct. A common problem in the construction industry is that steel is typically help off with plastic chairs and when workers walk on the steel it shoves the chairs down into the soil rendering them useless. The bricks actually worked quite well to prevent this. You wouldn't want to use something as a chair that might cause a galvanic reaction with the steel, but certainly bricks are no problem.

    The drain pipes were indeed in a trench although it's hard to see in the one picture I posted because it was an overcast day and everything blends together in the pic.

    There was 3-5/8" of gunite shot between the steel and subgrade (3-5/8" is the depth of the brick "chairs").

    No "trimmings" were used to fill out the floor, bench & stairs, it was all shot out of gunite. I have no idea how much waste was left over when they were done, they cleaned the site at the end of the day before I got home from work (as they did during every other phase). But I'm confident that they didn't just try to cram it all into nooks and crannies, that's not the way this company works.

    This wasn't a do-it-yourself project, not sure where you got that impression. I've said several times that the pool was built by Hobert, a local company with an oustanding reputation for building quality pools and standing by them. They've been around since 1975 and most of their subs have been with them for many years, some for decades.

    Thanks for the comments, although I would suggest that if you are really trying to help people you might try to make comments like that while the pool is still under construction rather than after it's done!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Drat! My backyard work scheduler (me) forgot to tell the electrician (me) that he needed to have his laborer (me) dig a trench and lay the electrical conduit to the gazebo before the landscapers (me and my wife) show up this weekend to start their work! However, we had a meeting (in my head) and the laborer rushed to Lowe's, bought the supplies and got everything in this evening, so I guess I won't fire him just yet :-) Topsoil is due out tomorrow. I'm actually looking forward to this, I love landscaping because it's not that hard and it makes such a major difference in appearance. Hopefully pics will follow soon!

  • lovingstuff
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    tresw--congrats on going swimming already! We were zipping along until the rains. They are coming tomorrow to prep for plaster on Monday. They did the deck on Tuesday. Love the pool, but our yard is a trainwreck. I can't wait until they get that all smoothed out.

  • syntagma
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    tresw HAHAHAHA on that last post. Guess it's kinda hard to fire yourself! ;) Can't wait to see your landscaping! It's going to look sooo incredible when everything is finished! I added some more pictures to my thread if you want to take a look. The tile and coping is done! Now the next step is the rock waterfall! YEAH!

  • jmas65
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    tres -
    that guys is an ... well, you know what he is. I admire your levelheadedness - keep enjoying that pool!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yesapool, that's great! Sounds like you may be swimming soon too! You know I can relate on the wrecked yard, but now that spring has sprung the grass is starting to fill in the bare spots. Hopefully in a few months the "scars" will be a distant memory!

    Syntagma, I would fire myself in a heartbeat if I didn't work so cheap ;-) Your pics looks great, that stone work is really nice!

    Jmas65, I fully believe in the "count to 10 before posting" technique, LOL!

    My wife and I made a trip to the nursury at lunch and selected the first batch of growies. Her van is packed full! It's going to be a busy weekend :-)

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well the landscaping is underway, but we've hit a couple of snags. The biggest was a weather delay. We started Saturday morning and got about half the area prepped and topsoiled plus about 15% of it planted (had to get something in the ground to admire while we worked on the rest!) We had to stop for a birthday party for our oldest. We were set to resume Sunday and much to my surprise I woke up to a swamp! We got 3/4" of rain. So nothing happened Sunday darn it, and that was reserved as the big work day! Oh well. I'll work on it in the evenings and hit it hard again this weekend. In the meantime here's a pic of the landscape plan:


    You'll likely notice the area around the Koi pond is not resolved yet, I'm not sure exactly how big the pond is going to be yet or what the configuration will be. So I'm just leaving that area open for now. I've got an overcrowded pond in front, I've had so many Koi born in it that I don't even know how many I have. I've got to get a good head (fin?) count before sizing the back pond.

    The Pink Muhly Grass has also not arrived at the landscape place yet, should be in any day though. That's the last plant we're waiting on. It's going to form much of the privacy border.

    Almost all of this is xeriscaping- low water requirements and drought tolerant. I think the only exceptions are the banana trees, they were an impulse buy at Lowe's :-) One of them is red and is really cool-looking (the red one doesn't bear fruit though). We'll probably have to hand-water them as they need more water than the other stuff.

    PS, sorry the text is so hard to read. I was trying to get the pic small enough to where you didn't have to chase it around the screen to see it all.

  • susannap2
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just found this post Tresw! Wow! I love the shark and cleaner! I will refer back to this often for the next month or so... Thank you so very much for continuing to post for all of us! You gave me ideas to discuss with our guys on the grotto and many others!

  • nikkineel
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Tres - pics please! I can't wait to see the landscaping!

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Susanna & Nikki! I'm hitting the project every evening, I just about have all the dirt spread so we should be doing some heavy planting this weekend. I'll get some pics posted as soon as I can. It'll look a little spread out initially because everything is being spaced for the mature heights. I hate it when plants are planted too close- they look great initially but then grow together and get tangled when mature! But in a year or 2 it should look like I want it to.

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OK, we're not finished but here are some progress pics. First, a big thank you to my wife who has really jumped in and helped me a LOT on this! A few generic comments- we've still got some planting to do, particularly around the gazebo. So it's not 100% complete. As mentioned above the plants are spaced for their mature size. So they look a little spread out right now, but they'll grow into place. The Bermuda grass is just coming out of dormancy, so it looks pretty wimpy in the pics.

    This first picture is the view from the driveway and sidewalk approach. There's a Siren Red Crepe Myrtle accent with a couple of Cordyline Red Sensations next to it. Veriegated liriope and dwarf mondo grass fill in the area in front and a border of Red Muhly Grass is behind. I discovered that spring is a bad time to buy Muhly Grass because it's not growing yet and is therefore hard to find except in small size. It'll eventually fill in and create a solid border though :-)

    The below pic shows a red banana tree (which was battered by high winds a couple of days ago, that's why the leaves are torn) surrounded by Pee Dee Gold Liriope with some Dwarf Mondo grass in front of that. That's a Tonto (red) Crepe Myrtle in the back. The grass is Mexican Feather Grass and is beautiful when the wind blows it! There is going to be a large Koi pond in front of the gazebo with an arched bridge connecting the patio to the gazebo (that's why nothing is planted there).The small bush/ tree outside of the bed is a fruiting Pomegranate tree. They only grow to about 10'.

    Below is the back of the gazebo with a Texas stepping stone to the backyard area. The small plants surrounding the rock area are an interesting new variety of Asian Jasmine called "Salsa". The leaves are beautiful- red, green and yellow all on the same leaf! It is not supposed to be as invasive as regular Jasmine, but I enclosed it in metal edging just to be sure. The Crepe Myrtle to the right is lavender. In the background is the stepping stone & gravel path we made back to the equipment pad.

    I like this because it makes for a really cool "zen view" from the other side of the pool through the slide opening. This is more Mexican Feather Grass with the Pink Muhly border coming up to each side (just beyond the pic). That's another Cordyline in the middle and Blue Fescue lining the front (this view is from the back).

    Last pic, this is really to show a "before" pic of the pergola. I put this in myself many years ago and it needs to be refreshed. I'm going to rebuild it sometime this spring or summer- removing the roof panels, power wash the cedar, install a roof gable with "sunburst" pattern, re-roof it with sheathing and shingles, install some decorative trim on the columns.

    That's it for now, back outside for more landscaping!

  • jmas65
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Your backyard is looking great, Tres - really inviting and pleasant looking. The work never ends, does it?

    I think I see a gas hose behind the chiminea in the last photo - I recall you saying that it was converted to propane... would you mind sharing a little info on that? Did you have gas piped to that location, or will you be runnung it off of a cylinder?

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Jmas! Quite right, it never ends!! I'm trying to get as much done as I can before I lose interest and move onto something else :-) We don't have natural gas service, so the chiminea will be powered off a propane cylinder. We've been using the grille tank to run it, but my wife just got a dedicated tank for it yesterday. I'm going to build a little cedar table-like enclosure for it (oh boy, another project!) The hose is 10' long, so the tank has to be within 10'. Below is a link to the eBay seller that we bought the kit from.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Propane conversion kit

  • syntagma
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love the Cordylines! I have four in my backyard. Here are a couple of them huge and FABULOUS! Sorry it's still messy and their are hoses around as the pool is still being built!

  • susannap2
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great pics Tresw! I like your landscaping so far and the ideas you have given me....ha. Question for you, have you had any issues with the mulch blowing into your pool?

    Every landscaper that has offered a bid has recommended river rock over mulch stating that prior jobs ended up with the mulch blowing into the pools so owners generally opt for the river rock. I am leaning towards the rock anyhow as all 3 of our dogs like to dig, especially the rescue that we just adopted a month ago, so rock should solve that problem, ideas? Thoughts? Anyone?

  • lancer1991
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    susannap2 - I went with river rock because of that concern and even added the boarder of rock between the kids playground (cedar chips) and the pool deck. I have noticed some chips on the deck and seems to be a combo of the kids coming out of the play area and some high winds blowing it up. Nothing major yet.

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Syntagma, those are beautiful Cordys! Hopefully my babies will grow up to look like that too :-)

    Susanna, thanks! We have two beds that are right next to the pool and we filled those with Mexican beach pebbles and pea gravel (pictures are shown in the above April 14 post). The mulch we use tends to stay put quite nicely, it's dyed hardwood. I've used plain hardwood before and the dyed stuff stays put better and doesn't float much during hard rains. I don't know why, maybe it's heavier due to the dye. It's not real close to the pool either, so it hasn't been a problem. The closest it gets is about 3 1/2 feet and that's on the downwind side. On the upwind side it's 12+ feet away.

  • susannap2
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That makes sense, our landscaping will only be about 8-10 feet from the pool separated by grass but there will be about 12 feet that will curve around to abut the deck on the outer side. No telling what will get tracked from there in to the pool.
    I think I am leaning towards Lancer's idea and going with the river rock. Good thing the puppies will hopefully grow out of their "dig" lifestyle... I just think the rock will look a little harsh, but then I am landscaping with a natural "Texas" look. Sorry Tres, didn't mean to hijack your post with my plant and rock issues... :) Just getting really nervous to make a decision.

  • tresw
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It's no problem, I don't think anyone is much looking at this thread anymore anyway. I think it's gotten too long, people don't want to wait for all the photos to load to view the updates! You've got more of a challenge then we do with the dogs because they'll no doubt get in your pool, so anything they walk through will get tracked in. I wouldn't do pea gravel because it could get stuck in their paws and end up in the pool and it's kind of a pain to get out because it's so small & hard to see. Mulch would float & get skimmed out pretty easily. The bigger rocks would be OK too unless they decide to carry them by mouth into the pool :-)

  • nikkineel
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey Tres! Thanks for sharing the pics. I want to see an update when some of it fills in. Great landscape!

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